By Nita Bhalla
KITUI, Kenya, June 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenyan farmer Abel Mutie Mathoka believed it needs to be a joke when he was told he might irrigate his drought-hit crops more inexpensively, easily and efficiently utilizing a pump sustained by cotton waste.
"Who could think it's possible to make a fuel much better than diesel from cotton seeds? I didn't!" chuckled Mathoka, crouching down to check the watermelons on his 10-acre (four-hectare) shared plot in Ituri town in Kenya's southeast Kitui county.
"But it works," he stated, strolling over to a close-by tree and plucking a large green pawpaw. "Irrigation with this biodiesel water pump has helped me get higher yields, specifically during drought durations."
Mathoka said his revenues had doubled in the two years he has actually been pumping water utilizing biodiesel, which is both more effective and 20 shillings ($0.20) per litre cheaper than regular diesel.
The biodiesel he is using is not simply good news for him - it is likewise good news for the planet.
Unlike a lot of biofuels, which are originated from crops such as maize, sugarcane, soybean, rapeseed and jatropha, it is made from a by-product of the cotton-making process.
That indicates that as well as being cleaner and more affordable than regular fuel, it is more sustainable than other biofuels due to the fact that no extra land is required to produce it.
From Brazil to Indonesia, the rush to cultivate biofuel crops has actually driven forest communities off their land and pushed farmers to change from crops-for-food to more lucrative crops-for-fuel - worsening food lacks.
"Our biodiesel originates from crushing cotton seeds left over as waste after ginning - the process of separating the seeds from raw cotton," stated Taher Zavery, handling director of Zaynagro Industries Ltd, the Kitui-based business producing the biodiesel.
"We began producing and utilizing it to power our cotton ginning factory in 2011. With increased production, we now utilize it for our trucks, offer it to the United Nations to run a few of their buses - and also to local farmers for irrigation."
More than 1,200 farmers in Kitui have so far invested in biodiesel pumps for irrigation as part of an initiative introduced by Zaynagro in 2015, said Zavery.
DRY RIVER BEDS
Climate change is taking a toll across east Africa and increasingly erratic weather is ending up being commonplace in nations such as Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Ethiopia, leading to lower rains.
The recurring dry spells are ruining crops and pastures and are starving animals - pressing countless people in the Horn of Africa to the verge of severe appetite.
The variety of Kenyans in requirement of food aid in March rose by almost 70 percent over a period of eight months to 1.1 million, largely due to bad rains, according to government figures.
With practically half Kenya's 47 counties stated to have a severe shortage of rain, humanitarian companies are alerting of increased appetite in the months ahead.
"Only light rainfall is forecast through June ... and this is not anticipated to minimize drought in affected areas of Kenya and Somalia," said the Famine Early Warning Systems Network in its newest report.
"Well below-average crop production, poor livestock body conditions, and increased local food costs are expected, which will minimize bad homes' access to food."
In Kitui's Kyuso area, the signs are currently obvious.
Rivers, water pans and dams are drying up as a result of the extended drought.
Villagers suffer trekking longer ranges - in some cases more than 10 km (6 miles) with their donkeys packed with empty jerry cans searching for water.
Small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are reliant on rain-fed agriculture, go over plans to sell their goats to make ends fulfill if the harvest is bad.
BATTLING DROUGHT WITH BIODIESEL
But not all Kitui's farmers are worried.
A small however growing number are shedding their problem of reliance on the weather - and buying watering systems powered by Zaynagro's cotton seed biodiesel through a pay-as-you-go plan launched more than three years back.
Neighbouring farmers band together to purchase the watering system - which consists of the biodiesel pump, 12 metres of pipelines and 10 litres of biodiesel - at expenses beginning with 32,000 shillings, depending on the size of the pump.
The farmers make an initial payment, then pay interest-free monthly instalments till the overall is paid off. They buy the biodiesel to run the pumps from Zaynagro at 80 shillings a litre.
Babu Kitheka, 39, said the biodiesel pump allowed him to irrigate a bigger part of his one-acre plot, where he grows a range of veggies including maize, tomatoes, spinach and sweet potatoes.
"With a diesel pump, maize yields were lower and I would get 15,000 shillings in 3 months. With the biodiesel pump, I can make 45,000 shillings," said Alex Babu Kitheka, standing near his plot in Ilangilo village, 40 km (25 miles) from Kitui town.
CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Other farmers indicate the plan as a significant advantage in helping enhance their output.
"The instalment scheme is great. Most farmers don't have the cash and can not quickly get a loan to buy a pump like this," stated Maurice Kitheka Munyoki, 41, as he stood next to his blue biodiesel pump.
"Having a plan like this helps us a lot. Our yields are excellent which indicates we can pay off the expense of the pump slowly in percentages, and have cash left over to pay the school costs."
Zaynagro's initiative is still in its early phases, with couple of farmers having repaid the complete cost of the pumps.
But such biofuel plans are promising due to the fact that they produce a circular economy by turning waste to biofuel for earnings, said Sanjoy Sanyal, senior partner for Clean Energy Finance at the World Resources Institute.
The simplicity of the design - user friendly, robust innovation, assured supply of biodiesel combined with a pay-as-you-go scheme - could help amaze rural Africa, he stated.
"There is a mosaic of sustainable energy options worldwide. The crucial problem is testing concepts and approaches in a collective fashion," stated Sanyal.
"Other cotton ginning factories in the area should try and gain from this experiment. Financial institutions must begin try out loans to groups of farmers. International donors and financiers need to support experimentation."
($1 = 101.3000 Kenyan shillings) (Reporting by Nita Bhalla @nitabhalla, Editing by Claire Cozens. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's and LGBT+ rights, human trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org)
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Cotton Waste Biofuel Powers Farmers to Eliminate Drought In Kenya
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